The apple of my eye
My darling sweetheart
I wish you spoke
I wish you told

How I wish I spoke
How I wish I cared
How I wish this was not just a wish
How I wish I had known

You still are my angel
My darling sweetheart
This body so blue
A tear drop and a scar

The lines above have been inspired by the recent suicide cases. It’s a cry from a mother to her child who has committed suicide.

The rise in the number of suicide cases by kids, teenagers, and even adults is a very sad reflection of what kind of pressures people in India are going through. I am not trying to justify the act, for I believe this is the most cowardly act one can do. However I would rather make that comment for adults than kids. For, according to me, it is the responsibility of parents to ensure their child is not taking too much stress.

If we look at kids, the constant pressure by parents for studying (rote learning, if you will) rather than discovering things is driving them crazy these days. To top it all the increasing competition that their parents have gone through, has hard wired into the brain of parents that, if their child does not go through the same rigor he will fail. That is not true; a parent should only facilitate, and allow the children to explore their own skills and help them with things they like to do, rather than force them to do something they don’t want to. the sad part is that some kids are just aping the act by reading suicide stories in the news, how I wish parents would explain it to them the implications of such an act. At an impressionable age, the kids need to be handled more carefully and parents ought to find some time out from their busy schedule for them. Kids just need a little comfort to tell them that someone cares for them and will be there when they need support the most. The current trend of both parents working has not helped the cause much. The child at home needs to release stress, and I hope parents realize this problem soon. Problem arises when parents are not even ready to accept that there is a problem, that their constant nagging is not helping the child. Being more sensitive and aware to the child’s need is the need of the hour.

The teens are undergoing another set of pressure to deal with. On one hand it’s the constant peer pressure to stay the coolest looking dude/dudette in college, and on the other hand is the constant pressure from parents to study. At times an extra push in terms of a failed relationship or failure in college is enough to drive them to commit suicide. I mean how does one explain the college students setting themselves on fire for the cause of Telangana? Sheer wicked politics to push these naive students into something like this. The only option left is to channelize the energy of youth into something which helps the society at large. You might laugh at the idea but I have seen the most degenerated of the teens being very passionate about working for the society; it does “give them a high”. There is immense talent available in these teens, and we, the society, fail every time we are unable to give them an environment to grow.

Adults committing suicide! Well how cowardly an act can it be to not think about your loved ones, read parents, kids, wife, brothers, sisters and a whole lot of bunch of friends? I am at a loss of words when I read about these suicide cases. There is just one beautiful life to live and they have not done any good to themselves by not fighting hard enough. One should always think about how fortunate they are to be living and having people around them who love them, because out there, there are probably millions who are not that fortunate.

Suicide is not a solution! If after reading this I have touched you, and some how made you think once again about the dreaded step, my job is done.

Image courtesy: spekulator from sxc.hu